Sexuality in Media: Emerging Issues in Africa - Africa Regional ...

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Sexuality in the Media: Emerging Issues in Africa South Africa is in the process of trying to juggle its newfound openness about sex with the need to create an environment that is less conducive to the rapid spread of HIV and the perpetuation of sexual violence. Letters to the editor in the newspapers not uncommonly take the form of long harangues about the sexual liberties of modern life being responsible for a host of social ills, from rising divorce rates, teen pregnancies, rape, and of course, the AIDS epidemic. Contradictions in media messaging abound. For example, a newspaper may carry a scholarly article promoting women's rights that is positioned opposite a scantily clad woman in a provocative pose advertising sports cars. If sex sells, one needs to ask how does the media manage to balance the messages they convey? Is it a concern of media at all? What effect do the mixed messages have on readers? What kind of advertising does the print media allow or advocate? Do journalists, editors or readers recognise contradictions? Are they seen as a problem? If so, by whom? The public face of sexuality in South Africa seems large and looming with the realities of sex displayed in media and public discourses almost constantly. As discussed in this paper, the proliferation of sexual imagery on the broader South African landscape is not necessarily reflected in the ordinary South Africa print media, especially in regard to daily newspapers. In general serious newspapers are conservative in their approach to sexuality, leaving it to the 'soft' publications/ leisure-read magazines to explore and analyse the more contentious and sensitive topics. There is a wide choice of such magazines, mostly targeting women, that range from those promoting motherhood and homemaking (i.e. Your Family, Motherhood, Sarie) to those advocating singledom, career and consumerism (i.e. Cosmopolitan, Femina, Glamour). In recent years several local editions of large American and European magazines have been launched in South Africa. These have included: Oprah Magazine, Ebony, GQ, Elle, Marie Claire, and Vanity Fair, amongst others. Carrying a mix of local and overseas stories and features, these magazines are ensuring that South Africans are increasingly exposed to (and influenced by) global trends, issues, opinions, ways of life and ways of thinking about sex and sexuality. Media Coverage Of Sexuality In South Africa Methodology Research was conducted within the auspices of the Anthropology Department of the University of KwaZulu-Natal in Durban. A post-graduate student was tasked with compiling a dossier of relevant articles from the selected media according to the terms of reference. Use was made of a local newspaper clipping service and additional research was conducted by a research assistant who advises and edits post-graduate work. An initial content analysis of the articles was undertaken, and in- depth interviews by the head researcher was conducted with two of South Africa's leading journalists on sexuality issues. These were Charlene Smith, based in Johannesburg, and Kerry Cullinan, based in KwaZulu-Natal. Charlene Smith has achieved notoriety as a fearless reporter on sexual violence and rape, as well as for being a renown activist and advocate of anti-retroviral treatment for survivors of rape. Kerry Cullinan was the 2004 winner of the prestigious Bessie Head Award for her in-depth reportage on matters of health and HIV/AIDS. At all times the research assistants were under the guidance and supervision of the head researcher. After the initial analysis and categorisation of articles, the team met to discuss patterns, common themes, biases and perspectives emerging from the articles under study. South Africa's immediate past state structured and managed in accordance with racial group affiliation has had implications for the development of the print media industry. Most newspapers were started to specifically cater for a particular language or racial grouping. The result is that newspapers and magazines today are still largely identified with certain ethnic or racial groups. Such is the case of the Zulu-language newspapers Ilanga, Isoleswa, and UmAfrika in KwaZulu-Natal, where readership is almost totally African, if not entirely Zulu. Similar small, community newspapers are to be found in other provinces, printed in local languages. A more comprehensive study would be needed to assess and compare the nature of sexuality issues presented in the various language/ethnic newspapers. It is likely that some significant and striking differences in the reportage of sexuality issues exists. As a result it may be the case that distinctions between the type of sexuality issues and the manner of
Sexuality in the Media: Emerging Issues in Africa reportage may be clearly discernable between South Africa's various racial/language/class groupings. Nonetheless there are several large, widely circulated and widely read English language newspapers that seek to be broadly relevant and reflective of a general South African readership. This report is based on an analysis of several of those newspapers, plus one popular 'soft' publication, a magazine with national circulation. Because of South Africa's large and diverse print media industry, selecting specific newspapers and magazines was difficult. For example, we deliberated over including True Love magazine, a black equivalent of Fair Lady. Our selection of Fair Lady was made because we believe it to have a more diverse racial readership than is the case with True Love. Another concern was that we felt we needed to incorporate more of an educational-level bias in our selection. This would mean focusing more on the smaller, indigenous language newspapers that target people with lower levels of education than would be the case of readers of the urban-based Sowetan or the somewhat academic Sunday Independent. We acknowledge a major shortcoming of the study to be the very limited range of newspapers reviewed. No doubt a more comprehensive study of a larger number and more diverse set of newspapers as well as magazines would provide a more comprehensive view of the media's coverage of sexuality issues during the selected time period. Nonetheless, there were some clear patterns discernable in the small sample of media reviewed for this report, and thus we, the researchers, believe that the report reflects an accurate 'snap-shot' of the nature of sexuality reportage that occurred in the South African mainstream media between January and June 2004. The terms of reference required that five newspapers and one soft publication be reviewed and analysed. The newspapers and the soft publication in the form of a popular woman's monthly magazine selected for purposes of this study included the following: The Star, a Johannesburg based daily, with a broad, multiracial readership. The Mercury, KwaZulu-Natal's main daily newspaper, also with a fairly broad readership, though perhaps mainly white. Media Coverage Of Sexuality In South Africa The Sunday Independent, a national, weekly newspaper which specializes in feature articles, in-depth analysis of current events, and is perceived to provide more independent and less biased views than other large weekend papers. The Sowetan, a daily newspaper widely circulated in Gauteng province but available nationally. This paper is a long-established newspaper aimed at a primarily literate, urban African readership. The Citizen, the country's foremost Afrikaans-language daily. Fair Lady, one of South Africa's first women's magazines aimed primarily at a white, English speaking audience. This glossy magazine carries stories on a range of contemporary topics, and appeals to a relatively cosmopolitan, literate and inquisitive readership. Newspapers were selected on the basis that they were read by as wide a range of South African newspaper readers. An effort was made to incorporate regional differences as well as racial differences in readership as far as possible. The Star was selected on the basis that it represented a popular Gauteng province daily; The Mercury, a popular KwaZulu-Natal daily; The Sunday Independent, a national weekend paper, The Sowetan, a popular national black newspaper, The Citizen, the largest national daily targeting an Afrikaanslanguage readership, and Fair Lady representing a well-established and widely read woman's monthly magazine. Statistical And Layout Analysis The total number of articles on sexuality reported in our sample of media between January and June 2004 was twenty. None of these articles were frontpage stories. Rather, they were to be found in the middle pages, with some of the issues being featured in the newspaper's editorial for that day. In general, coverage of issues related to sex and sexuality occur within the context of reportage on HIV/AIDS. The main issues featured in this reportage of sexuality are gender and sexual rights. Considered as a whole, the major focus of media vis-à-vis sexuality during that time period revolved around sexual rights within the context of the ongoing HIV/AIDS epidemic and current legislative
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